GUJRAT: The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) claims to have arrested a proclaimed offender belonging to the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) wanted in three cases of kidnap for ransom and murder of a doctor.

A spokesman for CTD said the law enforcers had arrested Malik Zahid who kidnapped and killed people in Lalamusa. Zahid of Gujrat belongs to TTP’s Asmatullah Muawiyah Group and he, along with other members of his group, was carrying out terrorist activities.

He said the suspects kidnapped Dr Naqi Hussain Shah, a resident of Hirapur area in the Lalamusa Saddar police precinct, when he was on his way to the clinic from his house in 2009 and kept him in custody for eight to 10 days.

The suspects demanded ransom from Shah’s family and later killed him. Police registered a case under sections 302/365 A /201 of PPC.

The same year, this terrorist group kidnapped Mubarak Ahmad Bajwa in Toba Tek Singh for ransom and brought him to Gujrat and killed him.

In 2011, the criminal, along with his accomplices, kidnapped Afaq Ahmed, 10, and his driver Mian Jamshed for ransom in Mauza Khokhar Gharbi. They left the hostages when their car rolled upside down on the way and fled. The Kunjah police registered a case.

The suspect was declared a proclaimed offender in the three cases registered against him and fled to Dubai from where he returned after 11 years and went into hiding. The IGP handed over the investigation of the cases to the CTD which arrested Zahid.

Published in Dawn, May 26th, 2022